


if you need it, sacrifice me

by wurin



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Android Nakamoto Yuta, Androids, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:34:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28611411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wurin/pseuds/wurin
Summary: NYT-A95 is right. Everyone has a name.“Yuta,” then, he whispers.
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta
Comments: 26
Kudos: 116
Collections: Challenge #4 — Awaken The World





	if you need it, sacrifice me

**Author's Note:**

> title inspired by [this](https://youtu.be/mjTwxPSmZ4U)

“NYT-A95,” he says, finger pressing down on the button, “activation initiated.”

Sicheng watches the Autonomous Android through the glass panel that separates the Lab into two parts, he watches it open its eyes, but the body remains still.

“Activation completed,” the AI speaks, “synchronization in process.”

Sicheng waits, shoulders tense, his eyes locked onto the Android. If he didn’t know better, he’d think the Android was a real person, a human. A man with black hair, some longer strands reaching the neck, built with muscles not too evident, tall enough. But he’s the one who created it, he knows that if he were to cut through its chest, he’d only find wires and metal, that his hands wouldn’t become red, stained by blood, but darker, stained by a black thick liquid.

Once the Android moves its head to the side and its fingers close into fists, before the AI announces it, Sicheng knows it’s functioning fully.

His first success.

“Functionality reached one-hundred percent.”

He smiles to himself, proud, and then he sends a glance to the others in the Lab to check their reactions, but they’re all facing the Android.

“Welcome NYT-A95,” Sicheng speaks, and as soon as the words are said, the Android’s eyes move on him. They almost look like human eyes, if it weren’t for the thin red light that appears around the pupils. Sicheng can’t stop the goosebumps rising on the skin of his arms.

“Thank you, Doctor Dong,” the Android answers after it has scanned him, and even its voice sounds like one of a real person, as if one of his colleagues were speaking. The Android already knows each person in the Lab, it can recognise all the people registered into the Government’s archives. It knows many things, how to fight and kill even if it has never done it, how to pilot an aircraft, that it’s the strongest Android in the Lab and it wouldn’t take much to kill all of them. It knows Sicheng is its creator.

It’s not his first time interacting with an Android, there are ones in the Lab too, but those are all programmed, the one in front of him, only a glass separating them, is the closest thing to a human. The Android he created has a mind, its own mind, can choose which words to speak, what to do. It’s a human created in a Laboratory. A perfect human.

Yangyang, his assistant, claps, a smile on his face that shows his gums. “We did it,” he tells him, words almost whispered, amazed, as if he can’t believe what he’s seeing. “You did it.”

Sicheng smiles again, bigger this time, it’s only the beginning, but for just a moment, he can be relieved.

“Yeah,” he says back, eyes on the Android, he’s almost scared it would disappear if he looked away, that it’d be just a dream. “We did it.”

And now, the Government will take it away, will take the Android away from Sicheng and make it their best soldier, the first of many. Created to be sacrificed.

At the thought, the smile slips away from his lips, but before he can think about something else, about the fact he can’t do anything about it, the silence is cut by the Android’s voice.

“Why are you sad, Doctor Dong?” it asks, and for a brief moment, Sicheng wonders how it can know, but then he remembers. The Android can read humans’ feelings, it can understand humans’ emotions through their words, the way they behave, their expression, even through the smallest detail or the subtle twitch of skin.

“I’m not,” he lies with a shake of his head, even if the Android knows he is. He lies for Yangyang and the rest of the people who have moved their eyes on him as soon as the Android spoke, waiting for an answer.

The Android doesn’t pry, and it doesn’t matter that Sicheng created it, that he made its operative system from scratch, its mind and everything else, he still asks himself if he really knows the Android standing in front of him, if creating it means he can predict the way it will act and speak.

“The Central Control Base has been informed about the success,” the AI informs them, and its words make Sicheng’s ears ring, his heart beating faster than it should. With his eyes closed, he takes a deep breath. He knew the day would’ve come sooner or later, he knew that one day the Government would’ve taken his Android away. He has always known from the first moment he started working on it, from the moment the Government let him work on the Project, and yet, now that the day has come, he’s not ready to let it go. He doesn’t want to.

Once he opens his eyes, he’s surprised to see that the Android’s eyes are still on him. It doesn’t blink, it doesn’t need to, but there’s something in its eyes that shouldn’t be there, that Sicheng doesn’t understand. The Android is the closest thing to a human, but at the same time, it’s the most different thing because it can’t feel emotions, it doesn’t even feel pain, so its eyes should be empty. But they aren’t, not when they’re on Sicheng.

Sicheng looks to the side, where the button to deactivate the Android is, and without thinking about it twice, he presses his finger on it.

The Android shuts down with a low sound, eyes closing, and Sicheng breathes, he didn’t even realise he was holding it in.

≡

There is a war going on, and no one can win it. Not because of weakness, but because everyone’s too powerful. It’s not a war of soldiers, guns and bodies left to rot on fields covered by blood, it’s a war of minds, of Advanced Technology and of weapons that can neutralise entire countries. A war of greed, a war that takes and takes, but never gives back.

Neo-Korea is a small country, and yet, it’s hiding a weapon that could destroy all the bigger ones. In a few years, it will create an army of Androids, as many as the Government wants, and no one will be able to defeat it, because always more will be created.

NYT-A95 is the first Android Soldier, but others will be created based on it, and Sicheng’s the mind who made it possible, the person who has positioned Neo-Korea on its victory path. He should be happy about it, should be proud, but in the darkness of his Lab, alone, NYT-A95 just a few meters in front of him, he doesn’t know how he feels. Maybe, he even regrets it, he regrets the day he accepted to work on the Project.

Once he presses his finger down the button to activate the Android, he tells himself it’s because he wants to make sure it functions perfectly, and not because he’s afraid of losing it. Afraid he only has a few days left, that he won’t be able to push the due date back anymore, that the Government will take it away from him.

“Good evening, Doctor Dong,” NYT-A95 speaks, and even if Sicheng has heard its voice many times, even before it was activated for the first time, it still sends shivers down his back. “How can I help you?”

Sometimes, he forgets that it’s not a real person.

Sicheng doesn’t know what to answer, he activated it without a purpose, but the thought of deactivating it and erasing the memory almost makes him want to throw up, makes his legs weak.

“May I ask you a question?” the Android asks after it must have understood Sicheng won’t answer. He nods, standing still in front of the glass panel, if he focuses enough, he can see his own reflection on it, as if he were on the other side, together with the Android.

“I’m sorry if it’s intruding,” it says, but Sicheng knows it doesn’t feel sorry, it’s just its operative system making it say what a human would in a similar situation. “Why do you always look unhappy?”

The question baffles Sicheng, all the times NYT-A95 has been activated, it never behaved weirdly or said something out of the ordinary. It’s not the question per se, but it’s the fact the Android asked it driven by curiosity, something that it shouldn’t have. Something that only humans have.

Sicheng clears his throat, he knows the Android’s following each of his movements, studying him.

“I’m not unhappy,” he answers, it’s not a lie, but not even a complete truth. “It just gets tiring sometimes.”

“Was it hard to create me?”

At the question, Sicheng looks to the side, where the panel with all the Android’s information is. Everything’s working perfectly, its system doesn’t need to be rebooted, its physical capabilities are at their peak, and yet, it seems like something’s wrong. NYT-A95 shouldn’t ask questions like that, it shouldn’t have a conscience and behave as if it’s aware of itself, like humans do.

“Yeah,” he answers, even if a small part of himself tells him he shouldn’t have answered, that the right thing to do is to deactivate it and go home, his own voice is screaming at him to do that, but Sicheng ignores it. “You’re the result of many failures.”

NYT-A95 nods, it looks as if it’s thinking, and at this point, Sicheng wouldn’t be surprised if it’s actually what it’s doing.

Sicheng has never gotten closer to the Android, at least not when it’s activated, he always keeps himself on the other side of the glass panel. He’s not scared of it, and deep down, even if he tries to keep the thought hidden as much as he can, he knows it’s not the Android’s fault, it’s because of himself, because he doesn’t want to grow too attached to it.

“Everyone has a name,” NYT-A95 speaks then, and Sicheng wants to take a step closer, more than one, let himself touch it while it’s activated, see the way it’d react, but he remains rooted to where he is, fingers near the button, ready to press down on it and deactivate the Android. “What’s mine?”

“NYT-A95,” Sicheng tells it, but the Android shakes its head.

“Not that— I mean… a real name.”

The Android looks at him, waiting. Sicheng tells himself to deactivate it, it’s the last chance he has, erase the memory and just forget about it, forget each word the Android has said. But he can’t, right? Even if he erased its memory, it’d ask the same questions another time, and Sicheng would still remember them, he wouldn’t be able to erase them from his mind.

NYT-A95 is right. Everyone has a name.

“Yuta,” then, he whispers.

The Android, _Yuta_ , smiles, and Sicheng does too. He doesn’t ask himself why Yuta’s smiling, that if it is, then it must be happy, and it shouldn’t be, because it’s an Android. As opposed to what he thought, he doesn’t care if it has feelings, or if it just knows how and when to portray them. What he thinks about instead is that maybe, it wouldn’t be as bad as he thinks it is, maybe, he should let himself grow closer to it.

 _Him_ , he corrects himself.

≡

After Yuta leaves the Lab, ready to be used by the Government, Sicheng doesn’t see him often.

He tries to busy himself with work, with his research and new technology to develop, but Yuta always stays in the back of his mind. He never leaves, it doesn’t matter how much Sicheng tries to forget about him, how many times he tells himself that Yuta is just an Android, made of metal and wires, that he could make thousands of Androids similar to him, and yet, somewhere in his chest, he knows it wouldn’t be the same.

Yuta’s his first and no one would be like him.

≡

“NYT-A95 is coming to the Lab,” the AI announces while Sicheng’s reading an assistant’s written report.

For the first few moments, Sicheng doesn’t register the words, but once he does, he can’t stop the warmth that spreads in his whole body, feeling almost giddy. It’s been months he hasn’t seen the other, at some point, he even wondered if he would’ve seen him ever again.

Though, once Yuta enters the Lab and his eyes find him, Sicheng feels like he could pass out right then.

His right arm’s missing, held by his left hand, and half of his face’s gone, revealing all the metal hidden under the fake skin, dirtied by black liquid.

“What happened?” Sicheng asks once he’s close to him, ushering him to the part of the Lab where Yuta used to stay before the Government took him away.

Yuta shakes his head, “I’m sorry, Sicheng,” he whispers, and even if it’s not the first time the other has used his name, Sicheng can’t still get used to it. “I can’t tell you.”

Sicheng nods, even if he wishes the other would tell him, but he doesn’t keep asking, afraid ears that shouldn’t be listening are ready to catch their words.

“I have to shut you down,” he tells him then, once Yuta has lied down under the Regeneration Machine.

“Okay.”

Sicheng moves to its side, where the panel to program it is, but before he does it, he looks at the other. Yuta’s already looking at him, and now Sicheng knows that his eyes shouldn’t be empty, that since the first moment, Yuta was never supposed to be only an Android Soldier.

Fingers wrap around his wrist, they’re rough, but the touch is gentle. “Don’t let them erase anything,” he says under his breath, words almost not audible, maybe Yuta thinks someone could be listening to them too. “Promise me.”

“I promise.”

Sicheng doesn’t know what the other doesn’t want to forget, but he will fight tooth and nail not to make that happen. He can’t break a promise.

When Yuta closes his eyes, Sicheng tells himself he’s just sleeping, even if Androids don’t sleep.

≡

Maybe he knew it would’ve happened, maybe he was anticipating it, but when it does, Sicheng’s still surprised, it doesn’t matter how many times he has imagined the scene in his head.

Yuta kisses him with a passion that almost burns the both of them, he kisses him with all of his body, but at the same time, he kisses him as if Sicheng were glass, close to breaking under Yuta’s hands.

Sicheng kisses him back, and hopes the kiss won’t ever end, even if he’d be breathless. He wishes he could keep Yuta close to him forever, to warm his body with his own, lock his eyes with the other’s and find in them what he has always looked for.

≡

“They want to send me to Neo-Japan,” Yuta tells him, words so low that Sicheng takes some moments to understand them. And once he does, he can’t stop his eyes from watering, silent tears fall on his cheeks.

“You’ll die,” he whispers, fingers tight around Yuta’s. It’s not a question, it’s not something that might happen. It _will_ happen. As soon as Yuta’s feet touch Neo-Japan’s ground. Or worse, they will take him and study him, they will dissectionate him, try to understand the way he’s made, and then, they will turn him into something evil.

Yuta nods, head lowered, but he doesn’t say anything.

“Yuta,” Sicheng says, one hand cupping the other’s face to let their eyes meet, “you can’t go.”

“I can’t disobey their orders,” Yuta tries to fight back, but his voice is weak. Sicheng knows he doesn’t want to go. “It’s what I was made for.”

“No,” Sicheng tells him, resolute, “it’s not.” They both know he’s lying, but Sicheng won’t let it happen. The Government has taken so much from him, he won’t let them take Yuta too.

“Sicheng, please,” the other whispers, voice broken, “don’t make this harder than it already is.”

“Then you shouldn’t have kissed me that night.”

Yuta chuckles, and in the silence of the Lab, the sound echoes. “I did it because I love you.”

Sicheng sighs, he closes his eyes and doesn’t think about the fact Yuta was supposed not to feel any emotion. It’s too late now.

“I love you too and it’s why I’ll find a way.”

Yuta doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t try to stop him, he just nods, and then, he brings Sicheng’s hand to his lips, he kisses each of his fingers, a brush of lips against skin.

≡

“Do you trust me?” Yuta asks him, and Sicheng doesn’t have to think about the answer, it comes naturally. He has created Yuta, of course he trusts him. In a way, the other’s a part of him.

“Yes,” he whispers, fingers slightly shaking on the panel.

“You’ll be safe with me,” he tells him then, voice soft, and if someone would’ve told him that his first success, that NYT-A95 would’ve talked to him with that voice, that he would’ve looked at him like he does, eyes gentle and holding so much love in them Sicheng feels like he’s drowning, he would’ve never believed it. And yet, it’s happening, and Yuta is much more than just an Android Soldier, a NYT-A95, much more than a perfect human. He’s the one who fought against Sicheng’s loneliness and destroyed it with his strong hands, made to kill as many as possible, but still too delicate on Sicheng’s warm skin.

“I know,” Sicheng murmurs, and with a last touch on the panel, he deactivates Yuta’s localization, makes him a ghost. “Done.”

After, Yuta takes his hand and runs. Sicheng looks behind his back, he sends a glance to the glass panel, where Yuta was the first time he activated him, and relief takes over him. Yuta won’t die because of the sick and twisted ways of the Government.

They will live as shadows, but they will be together.

Sicheng doesn’t need anything else.

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/TAEYUKHEl) \- [cc](https://curiouscat.me/wurin)


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